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Listening to Your Body

Body awareness & mindfulness are becoming hot topics and key words especially in athletics, medicine, health, & spirituality, to name a few. But what does it mean to “listen to your body” or “be mindful”? It doesn’t mean the noises one’s body makes at times, although they can be helpful nor does it mean to fill your mind with more chatter….I’m pretty sure it’s full enough (remember yesterday’s post on anxiety in America).

On days like today, it feels like all I can do is listen or respond to my body because it’s refusing to do anything except lay on the sofa.

Ideally, we would check in aka listen with our bodies on a daily if not hourly basis to make sure we are in tune with our insides as much as we are our outsides and surroundings.

As much time and attention we spend externally on our looks, our workouts, our clothes, our courses, our equipment, we have abandoned or at least neglected our internal home that we carry around with us. And the truth is that our internal home, our bodies & all that fills them, are what will make us or break us in the end. By listening, nourishing, & responding to the signals we receive as soon as we receive them, we create fertile space for mental strength, physical performance, & emotional balance to blossom.

This pyramid of health & wellness must be equally balanced for us to live happy, healthy lives. By constantly evaluating & observing each part, we can make manageable adjustments along the way. If we wait until “wailing and gnashing of teeth” then well, get ready for a longer road to recovery and reframing your lifestyle.

So here I lay on my sofa, aware that the signs have been present but I’ve consciously IGNORED them. Hopefully, after this day of mostly rest & hydration, I will re-commit & follow through in the practice of greater mindfulness through daily yoga & meditation. All any of us can do is constantly re-evaluate and re-commit to our personal sadhanas (practices).